Title: Kíimki, Origin Story of the Place Name

Presenter: Eric Elliot

THIS MEETING WILL BE HELD IN PERSON, INDOORS AT THE RANCH HOUSE. PLEASE WEAR A MASK IF YOU ARE NOT VACCINATED.

The island place name Kíimki is of Uto-Aztecan origin, not Chumashan. The ultimate source of Kíimki is the Uto-Aztecan root *kimV 'brow'. Chumashan borrowed the island place name from Uto-Aztecan. The root *kimV wandered out of Takic Southern California with the meaning 'come' and spread north, east, and south to Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and from there to Western and Central Mexico, suggesting that the Shoshonean Wedge Theory is in error. Yet, in the gray literature submitted by archeologists to developers and shared with tribal authorities, to this day we regularly find the Shoshonean Wedge referenced in one form or another. 

Bio: Eric Elliott is a credentialed elementary school teacher who has taught for over thirty years.  He is married and has three children and one grandson.  He worked for over two decades with the final dominant native speakers of three Takic languages; Luiseño, Cahuilla, and Serrano.